Connecting with Country Recipes - Page Text Content

5: Lemon Myrtle Biscuits 250g sugar 250g butter 500g sifted SR flour 1/3 emu egg 25g ground Lemon Myrtle Cream together sugar and butter add the eggs one at a time, fold in flour and myrtle until combined, roll into small balls. Flour fork and press slightly. Bake in Mod oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool and store in an airtight container.

9: Quandong Jam Damper Ingredients: Equipment: Self- Raising Flour Bowl Water Baking tray Quandong Jam Baking paper Preheat the oven to 180c. Put about 6-10 handfuls of self- raising flour in the bowl. Make a well in the self-raising flour. Pour water into the flour. Mix the water into the self-raising flour thoroughly until it forms a ball of dough. If too dry, then add a little more water. Take the ball of dough out of bowl and put it on the table to knead the dough well. Spread the damper out and add the Quandong jam in the middle of the damper. Close the damper up leaving a bit of the jam on top. Place the ball of dough on the baking tray. Put the damper in the oven and leave to cook till slightly golden brown or for 20- 30 minutes. Check if the damper is ready by inserting a skewer into the centre of the damper. If nothing sticks to the skewer it is ready. Let the damper rest for 5-10 minutes. Cut the damper up into pieces. Add butter if desired and enjoy!

13: Quandong Wattleseed Cream Soak 100gm dried quandong in water for one hour. Cook it until it softens. Add half a cup of sugar. Cook on for a further 10 mins or so (so the sugar melts). Drain off 50ml of liquid and while still hot add a tablespoon of ground wattleseed. Allow the mix to cool.

17: Quandong Jam 100gm Dried Quandong, 2 granny smith apples, 600gm castor sugar, 1 lemon or lime, juiced Put the quandong in a bowl, cover with water and leave to soak for about 8 hours or overnight. (Yields just about 500gm of fruit) Peel, core and roughly chop the granny smith apples and then place the apple and the quandong in a pan with the quandong soaking water and lemon juice. Simmer for about 30 minutes until soft, stirring from time to time. Remove the pan from the heat and add the sugar, Stir until sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, boil rapidly for 20 to 25 minutes stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from the heat, blend if required, but be sure to leave chunky pieces of apples and quandong in the jam. Pot and cover as usual.

18: Bush Tucker Garden Plant Profiles | 6 Seasons in Our Garden

25: Kambarang is when the weather starts to get warmer. It’s the perfect time to start collecting wattle seeds and Christmas tree gum’s. The women also begin to use there wanna’s (digging sticks) to dig for yams.

27: Birak is a dry and hot season meaning that the country dries up and water becomes scarce. To get food the indigenous women and children fired small areas of bush to search for reptiles like the Race Horse Goanna and Shingle-back lizards. The men fished and hunted along the estuary and coast lines. The indigenous people would also connect nectar from the Banksia flower which they would use to create a honey sweet drink called ‘mungitch.’

33: Common name: Australian Bluebell Scientific name: Billardiera fusiformis Description: This small shrub reaches one and a half metres high. It has leafy stems that twist around themselves and other plants. The flowers are a deep blue in colour. When mature, the blue berries are up to two and a half centimetres long. Important facts: This species grows in a variety of habitats in the south-west, from Mogumber to Augusta and east to the Esperance area. The Australian Bluebell has fleshy fruits that are edible when ripe and sweet with a soft texture.

34: Common name: Grass tree Scientific name: Xanthorrhoea preissii Aboriginal name: Balga Season: Bunuru Important facts: If the Balga is not healthy you may find bardi grubs feasting on the rotting plant matter. The Balga as slow growing and grows one cm per year. They like sandy soil and grow from Kalbarri to the South coast. Ants like to eat the nectar of the flowering spear. When there is a fire the insects retreat to the safe and moist spongy root system. The black resin from the trunk is used with kangaroo scats (poo!) and charcoal to make a very strong glue to attach spear points to shafts.

36: Common name: White Clematis Scientific name: Clematis linearifolia Aboriginal name: Taaruuk Season Djilba Description: The Taaruuk is a twining creeper with white flowers in Djilba. Important facts: The leaves were used to make poultice to reduce irritation however they can cause blistering if left for more than 3 minutes. Taaruuk has tuberous roots that are roasted on hot coals and then pounded to make a paste. The fluffy white seeds give it its European name of White Mans Beard.

39: Common name: Red Eyed Wattle Scientific name: Acacia cyclops Aboriginal name: Not known Season-Birok Description: The red eyed wattle is a shrub that grows up to 3 metres high. Its spherical flowers appear from September to March. Important facts: Bardi grubs burrow into the trunk. These grubs were prised out of their holes with sharpened sticks. The gum exuded from the stem is edible. The seed was grounded into a powder, mixed with water and made into cakes. The bright red seed casing is an obvious bird attractant that spreads the seed.

41: Common Name Zamia palm Scientific name: Macrozamia Aboriginal name: Jeeriji Jeeriji is from an ancient group of plants, the cycads. They existed 200 million years ago in Gondwanaland with the dinosaurs. They are dioecious plants meaning that there are separate female and male plants. They were cultivated by Nyoongars in the sandy country. The Nyoongars would often camp on the shores of the Swan River to catch mullet and mulloway. The long period of encampment also allowed them to undertake the lengthy treatment needed to make the fruit of the zamia safe for human consumption.